With each return of summer, the observation is the same. On TikTok as on Instagram, more and more young women report a significant increase in street harassment they experience as soon as temperatures rise. This phenomenon is far from anecdotal—and its psychological consequences are very real.
"Suns out, tank top season": the post that sums up the general feeling
One of these videos particularly resonated. “The sun is out, it’s tank top season, men are calling out to women from their cars and bikes. I think summer has arrived,” wrote the author of the post, immediately sparking a wave of unanimous responses: yes, as soon as the warmer weather returns, the whistles, honking, unwanted comments, and persistent stares multiply. In the comments sections of numerous TikTok videos on the topic, testimonies abound. Some talk about the sidewalks they now avoid, others explain that they pull out their “winter clothes” in the middle of June, or that they forgo wearing dresses above the knee all summer long. Far from the fantasy of the return of “warmth,” the first heatwaves are, for many, a return to vigilance.
A correlation long documented by researchers
The phenomenon is, in reality, nothing new. Several feminist publications have already documented it in recent years. The British magazine Stylist pointed out as early as 2019 that "there is a direct positive correlation between the amount of visible skin and the number of men who think they have the right to comment on it." This reality has been confirmed by numerous associations, as well as by the accounts of waitresses, students, nurses, and ordinary passersby, all of whom observe the same thing: their daily lives change with the weather.
The reasons given are numerous. More people in the streets, crowded terraces, passersby loosened by alcohol in the early evening, and above all, the persistence of a notion that lighter clothing equates to tacit approval for comments. A deeply outdated interpretation—and legally, completely unfounded.
In France, sexist insults have been recognized since 2018
On the legislative front, France acknowledged this reality with the Schiappa Law of August 3, 2018, which established the offense of "sexist insult." This law allows law enforcement to issue fines, immediately and without a prior complaint, to perpetrators of street harassment: whistling, inappropriate remarks, persistent soliciting, etc. The fine can reach up to 750 euros, and several thousand tickets have been issued each year since the law's implementation. However, in practice, the vast majority of incidents still go unreported. Fear, weariness, the absence of witnesses, or simply the feeling that "it won't do any good" explain this almost systematic silence. It is precisely against this silence that viral videos attempt, in their own way, to combat it.
A responsibility that is never found in clothes
Finally, it is important to reiterate a truth that social scientists have been emphasizing for decades: the responsibility for street harassment never lies with the victim, nor with what she is wearing. Whether a woman is wearing a tank top, sweatpants, a winter coat, or a long skirt, the harasser remains solely responsible for his behavior. Attempting to explain the phenomenon solely by summer clothing would amount to blaming women for their own aggression.
As a new wave of testimonies floods social media, these accounts underscore the urgent need for collective awareness. Street harassment is not inevitable; it is a daily, illegal form of violence, deeply rooted in a culture that still needs to be fundamentally dismantled. And this is true regardless of the weather.
